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Yes / In this letter a novel on-chip array antenna is investigated which is based on CMOS 20μm Silicon technology for operation over 0.6-0.65 THz. The proposed array structure is constructed on three layers composed of Silicon-Ground-Silicon layers. Two antennas are implemented on the top layer, where each antenna is constituted from three sub-antennas. The sub-antennas are constructed from interconnected dual-rings. Also, the sub-antennas are interconnected to each other. This approach enhances the aperture of the array. Surface waves and substrate losses in the structure are suppressed with metallic via-holes implemented between the radiation elements. To excite the structure, a novel feeding mechanism is used comprising open-circuited microstrip lines that couple electromagnetic energy from the bottom layer to the antennas on the top-layer through metasurface slot-lines in the middle ground-plane layer. The results show the proposed on-chip antenna array has an average radiation gain, efficiency, and isolation of 7.62 dBi, 32.67%, and -30 dB, respectively. / H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016 SECRET-722424 and the financial support from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under grant EP/E0/22936/1

Yes / An effective method is presented for suppressing mutual coupling between adjacent radiating elements which is based on metasurface isolation for MIMO and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems. This is achieved by choking surface current waves induced over the patch antenna by inserting a cross-shaped metasurface structure between the radiating elements. Each arm of the cross-shaped structure constituting the metasurface is etched with meander-line slot (MLS). Effectiveness of the metasurface is demonstrated for a2×2antenna array that operates over six frequency sub-bands in X, Ku and K-bands. With the proposed technique, the maximum improvement achieved in attenuating mutual coupling between neighbouring antennas is: 8.5 dB (8-8.4 GHz), 28 dB (9.6-10.8 GHz), 27 dB (11.7-12.6 GHz), 7.5 dB (13.4-14.2 GHz), 13 dB (16.5-16.8 GHz) and 22.5 dB (18.5-20.3 GHz). Furthermore, with the proposed technique (i) minimum center-to-center separation between the radiating elements can be reduced to 0.26λ0, where λ0 is 8.0 GHz; (ii) use of ground-plane or defected ground structures are unnecessary; (iii) use of short-circuited via-holes are avoided; (iv) it eliminates the issue with poor front-to-back ratio; and (v) it can be applied to existing arrays retrospectively. / H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016 SECRET-722424 and the financial support from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under grant EP/E0/22936/1

Even if 3rd and 4th generation wireless systems aim to achieve multimedia services at high speed, it is rather difficult to have full-fledged multimedia services due to insufficient capacity of the systems. There are many technical challenges placed on us in order to realize the real multimedia services. One of those challenges is how efficiently to allocate resources to traffic as the wireless systems evolve. The review of the literature shows that strategic manipulation of traffic can lead to an efficient use of resources in both wire-line and wireless networks. This aspect brings our attention to the role of link layer protocols, which is to orchestrate the transmission of packets in an efficient way using given resources. Therefore, the Media Access Control (MAC) layer plays a very important role in this context. In this research, we investigate technical challenges involving resource control and management in the design of MAC protocols based on the characteristics of traffic, and provide some strategies to solve those challenges. The first and foremost matter in wireless MAC protocol research is to choose the type of multiple access schemes. Each scheme has advantages and disadvantages. We choose Wireless Code Division Multiple Access/Time Division Duplexing (WCDMA/TDD) systems since they are known to be efficient for bursty traffic. Most existing MAC protocols developed for WCDMA/TDD systems are interested in the performance of a unidirectional link, in particular in the uplink, assuming that the number of slots for each link is fixed a priori. That ignores the dynamic aspect of TDD systems. We believe that adaptive dynamic slot allocation can bring further benefits in terms of efficient resource management. Meanwhile, this adaptive slot allocation issue has been dealt with from a completely different angle. Related research works are focused on the adaptive slot allocation to minimize inter-cell interference under multi-cell environments. We believe that these two issues need to be handled together in order to enhance the performance of MAC protocols, and thus embark upon a study on the adaptive dynamic slot allocation for the MAC protocol. This research starts from the examination of key factors that affect the adaptive allocation strategy. Through the review of the literature, we conclude that traffic characterization can be an essential component for this research to achieve efficient resource control and management. So we identify appropriate traffic characteristics and metrics. The volume and burstiness of traffic are chosen as the characteristics for our adaptive dynamic slot allocation. Based on this examination, we propose four major adaptive dynamic slot allocation strategies: (i) a strategy based on the estimation of burstiness of traffic, (ii) a strategy based on the estimation of volume and burstiness of traffic, (iii) a strategy based on the parameter estimation of a distribution of traffic, and (iv) a strategy based on the exploitation of physical layer information. The first method estimates the burstiness in both links and assigns the number of slots for each link according to a ratio of these two estimates. The second method estimates the burstiness and volume of traffic in both links and assigns the number of slots for each link according to a ratio of weighted volumes in each link, where the weights are driven by the estimated burstiness in each link. For the estimation of burstiness, we propose a new burstiness measure that is based on a ratio between peak and median volume of traffic. This burstiness measure requires the determination of an observation window, with which the median and the peak are measured. We propose a dynamic method for the selection of the observation window, making use of statistical characteristics of traffic: Autocorrelation Function (ACF) and Partial ACF (PACF). For the third method, we develop several estimators to estimate the parameters of a traffic distribution and suggest two new slot allocation methods based on the estimated parameters. The last method exploits physical layer information as another way of allocating slot to enhance the performance of the system. The performance of our proposed strategies is evaluated in various scenarios. Major simulations are categorized as: simulation on data traffic, simulation on combined voice and data traffic, simulation on real trace data. The performance of each strategy is evaluated in terms of throughput and packet drop ratio. In addition, we consider the frequency of slot changes to assess the performance in terms of control overhead. We expect that this research work will add to the state of the knowledge in the field of link-layer protocol research for WCDMA/TDD systems. / Ph. D.

Yes / This paper presents empirical results of an innovative beam scanning leaky-wave antenna (LWA) which enables scanning over a wide angle from -35o to +34.5o between 57 GHz and 62 GHz, with broadside radiation centered at 60 GHz. The proposed LWA design is based on composite right/left-handed transmission-line (CRLH-TL) concept. The single layer antenna structure includes a matrix of 3×9 square slots that is printed on top of the dielectric substrate; and printed on the bottom ground-plane are Π and Tshaped slots that enhance the impedance bandwidth and radiation properties of the antenna. The proposed antenna structure exhibits metamaterial property. The slot matrix provides beam scanning as a function of frequency. Physical and electrical size of the antenna is 18.7×6×1.6 mm3 and 3.43􀣅􀫙×1.1􀣅􀫙×0.29􀣅􀫙, respectively; where 􀣅􀫙 is free space wavelength at 55 GHz. The antenna has a measured impedance bandwidth of 10 GHz (55 GHz to 65 GHz) or fractional bandwidth of 16.7%. Its optimum gain and efficiency are 7.8 dBi and 84.2% at 62 GHz. / Partially supported by innovation programme under grant agreement H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016 SECRET- 722424 and the financial support from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under grant EP/E022936/1.

Potential predation between fishes of recreational interest has incited many bitter conflicts between angler groups. Large predators, such as esocids, are often at the center of these conflicts because of their capacity to alter fish populations. Such a conflict certainly exists between the Muskellunge Esox masquinongy and Smallmouth Bass Micropterus dolomieu fisheries of the New River, Virginia. Following the institution of a 42-in minimum-length limit (MLL) on Muskellunge, bass anglers feared that increased Muskellunge abundance might be negatively affecting Smallmouth Bass via increased predation. In order to ascertain the impacts of the 42-in MLL, I estimated the demographics, abundance, and food habits of Muskellunge combined with bioenergetics modeling to assess changes (i) in the quality of the Muskellunge fishery and (ii) in Muskellunge predation on Smallmouth Bass. Additionally, given the likelihood of future regulations to incite similar concerns from bass anglers, I modeled alternative length-limit regulations (iii) to assess their potential to improve fishery quality, thereby laying the groundwork for managers to address angler concerns before they arise. I found substantial increases in population size structure and in average adult density of Muskellunge since the institution of the 42-in MLL, but bioenergetics modeling did not indicate a notable increase in the consumption of Smallmouth Bass. I also found that high MLLs (e.g., 48-in) were likely to promote the largest increases in trophy production of Muskellunge compared to low MLLs or protected-slot limits (PSLs). This study suggests that the current Muskellunge population likely plays a small role in shaping Smallmouth Bass population dynamics and production in the New River; and lays the groundwork for predicting how the impact of Muskellunge on Smallmouth Bass might change under alternative regulations. / Master of Science

The present study investigates mixed out aerodynamic loss coefficient measurements for a high turning, contoured endwall passage under transonic operating conditions in presence of upstream purge slot and mateface gap. The upstream purge slot represents the gap between stator-rotor interface and the mateface gap simulates the assembly feature between adjacent airfoils in an actual high pressure turbine stage. While the performance of the mateface and upstream slot has been studied for lower Mach number, no studies exist in literature for transonic flow conditions. Experiments were performed at the Virginia Tech's linear, transonic blow down cascade facility. Measurements were carried out at design conditions (isentropic exit Mach number of 0.87, design incidence) without and with coolant blowing. Upstream leakage flow of 1.0% coolant to mainstream mass flow ratio (MFR) was considered with the presence of mateface gap. There was no coolant blowing through the mateface gap itself. Cascade exit pressure measurements were carried out using a 5-hole probe traverse at a plane 1.0Cax downstream of the trailing edge for a planar geometry and two contoured endwalls. Spanwise measurements were performed to complete the entire 2D loss plane from endwall to midspan, which were used to plot pitchwise averaged losses for different span locations and loss contours for the passage. Results reveal significant reduction in aerodynamic losses using the contoured endwalls due to the modification of flow physics compared to a non contoured planar endwall. / Master of Science

Wireless communications have been an indispensable aspect of everyday life, and there is an increasing consumer demand for accessing several wireless communication technologies from a single, compact, mobile device. System-on-package (SOP) technology is an advanced packaging technology that has been proven to realize the convergence of multiple functions into miniaturized, high-performance systems to meet this demand. With the advancements in the SOP technology, the miniaturization of the front-end module has been achieved using embedded passives in multilayer packages. However, the integration of the antenna directly on the module package is still the barrier to achieve a fully-integrated, high-performance RF SOP system. The main reason for this missing link is that integrating the antenna on the package requires miniaturizing the antenna, which is a difficult task. The focus of this dissertation is to design high-performance antennas along with developing techniques for miniaturization and system-on-package (SOP) integration of these antennas to achieve fully-integrated SOP systems using advanced multilayer organic substrates and thin-film magneto-dielectric materials. The targeted spectrum for the antenna designs are 2.4/5 GHz WLAN/WiMAX and 60 GHz WPAN bands. Several novel antenna designs and configurations to integrate the antenna on the package along with the module are discussed in this dissertation. The advanced polymers used in this research are Liquid Crystalline Polymer (LCP), RXP, and thin-film magneto-dielectrics.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:55:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 HumbertoDA_TESE.pdf: 4762435 bytes, checksum: 20aae983d6895db90a85b0e2b107200f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-09-02 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / In the globalized world modern telecommunications have assumed key role within the company, causing a large increase in demand for the wireless technology of communication, which has been happening in recent years have greatly increased the number of applications using this technology. Due to this demand, new materials are developed to enable new control mechanisms and propagation of electromagnetic waves. The research to develop new technologies for wireless communication presents a multidisciplinary study that covers from the new geometries for passive antennas, active up to the development of materials for devices that improve the performance at the frequency range of operation. Recently, planar antennas have attracted interest due to their characteristics and advantages when compared with other types of antennas. In the area of mobile communications the need for antennas of this type has become increasingly used, due to intensive development, which needs to operate in multifrequency antennas and broadband. The microstrip antennas have narrow bandwidth due to the dielectric losses generated by irradiation. Another limitation is the degradation of the radiation pattern due to the generation of surface waves in the substrate. Some techniques have been developed to minimize this limitation of bandwidth, such as the study of type materials PBG - Photonic Band Gap, to form the dielectric material. This work has as main objective the development project of a slot resonator with multiple layers and use the type PBG substrate, which carried out the optimization from the numerical analysis and then designed the device initially proposed for the band electromagnetic spectrum between 3-9 GHz, which basically includes the band S to X. Was used as the dielectric material RT/Duroid 5870 and RT/Duroid 6010.LM where both are laminated ceramic-filled PTFE dielectric constants 2.33 and 10.2, respectively. Through an experimental investigation was conducted an analysis of the simulated versus measured by observing the behavior of the radiation characteristics from the height variation of the dielectric multilayer substrates. We also used the LTT method resonators structures rectangular slot with multiple layers of material photonic PBG in order to obtain the resonance frequency and the entire theory involving the electromagnetic parameters of the structure under consideration. xviii The analysis developed in this work was performed using the method LTT - Transverse Transmission Line, in the field of Fourier transform that uses a component propagating in the y direction (transverse to the real direction of propagation z), thus treating the general equations of the fields electric and magnetic and function. The PBG theory is applied to obtain the relative permittivity of the polarizations for the sep photonic composite substrates material. The results are obtained with the commercial software Ansoft HFSS, used for accurate analysis of the electromagnetic behavior of the planar device under study through the Finite Element Method (FEM). Numerical computational results are presented in graphical form in two and three dimensions, playing in the parameters of return loss, frequency of radiation and radiation diagram, radiation efficiency and surface current for the device under study, and have as substrates, photonic materials and had been simulated in an appropriate computational tool. With respect to the planar device design study are presented in the simulated and measured results that show good agreement with measurements made. These results are mainly in the identification of resonance modes and determining the characteristics of the designed device, such as resonant frequency, return loss and radiation pattern / No mundo globalizado moderno, as telecomunica??es assumiram um papel fundamental dentro das sociedades, provocando um grande aumento da demanda por tecnologia de comunica??o sem fio, isto vem acontecendo nos ?ltimos anos e tem aumentado bastante o n?mero de aplica??es que utilizam esta tecnologia. Em decorr?ncia dessa demanda, novos materiais s?o desenvolvidos no sentido de possibilitar novos mecanismos de controle e propaga??o de ondas eletromagn?ticas. A pesquisa para o desenvolvimento de novas tecnologias para comunica??o sem fios apresenta um car?ter multidisciplinar que abrange desde o estudo de novas geometrias para antenas passivas e ativas at? o de desenvolvimento de materiais para dispositivos que melhorem o desempenho naquela faixa de frequ?ncia de opera??o. Recentemente as antenas planares tem despertado interesses devido as suas caracter?sticas e vantagens que oferecem quando comparadas com os demais tipos de antenas. Na ?rea de comunica??es m?veis a necessidade de antenas desse tipo tem se tornado cada vez maior, devido ao seu intenso desenvolvimento, que necessita de antenas que operem em multifrequ?ncia e em banda larga. As antenas de microfita apresentam largura de banda estreita devido ?s perdas no diel?trico geradas pela irradia??o. Outra limita??o ? a degrada??o do diagrama de irradia??o devido ? gera??o de ondas de superf?cie no substrato. Algumas t?cnicas est?o sendo desenvolvidas para minimizar esta limita??o de banda, como ? o caso do estudo de materiais do tipo PBG Photonic Band Gap, para compor o material diel?trico. Este trabalho tem como objetivo principal o desenvolvimento do projeto de um ressoador de fenda com m?ltiplas camadas e com a utiliza??o de substrato do tipo PBG, onde foi realizada a otimiza??o a partir da analise num?rica e em seguida, projetado o dispositivo proposto inicialmente para a faixa do espectro eletromagn?tico compreendida entre 3-9 GHz, que inclui basicamente a banda S at? X. Foi utilizado como material diel?trico o RT/Duroid 5870 e RT/Duroid 6010.2LM onde ambos s?o laminados cer?micos PTFE com constantes diel?tricas de 2.33 e 10.2, respectivamente. Atrav?s de uma investiga??o experimental foi realizada uma an?lise dos resultados simulados versus medidos observando o comportamento das xvi caracter?sticas de radia??o a partir da varia??o da altura das multicamadas de subtrato diel?trico. Foi utilizado tamb?m o m?todo LTT ?s estruturas ressoadoras retangulares de fenda com m?ltiplas camadas, para a obten??o da freq??ncia de resson?ncia bem como toda a teoria que envolva os par?metros eletromagn?ticos da estrutura em estudo. As an?lises desenvolvidas neste trabalho foram realizadas com utiliza??o do m?todo LTT Linha de Transmiss?o Transversa, no dom?nio da Transformada de Fourier que utiliza uma componente de propaga??o na dire??o y (transversa ? dire??o real de propaga??o z), tratando assim as equa??es gerais dos campos el?tricos e magn?ticos em fun??o de yE e yH . A teoria PBG ser? aplicada para a obten??o da permissividade relativa para as polariza??es s e p dos substratos compostos de material fot?nico. Os resultados s?o obtidos com o software comercial Ansoft HFSS, usado para a an?lise precisa do comportamento eletromagn?tico do dispositivo planar em estudo, por meio do M?todo dos Elementos Finitos (FEM). Resultados num?rico-computacionais s?o apresentados em forma de gr?fico em duas e tr?s dimens?es, para aos par?metros de perda de retorno, frequ?ncia de radia??o, e diagrama de radia??o, efici?ncia de radia??o e densidade superficial de corrente para o dispositivo em estudo, e que tem como substratos, materiais fot?nicos e que fora simulado em uma ferramenta computacional apropriada. . No que diz respeito ao projeto do dispositivo planar em estudo s?o apresentados os resultados medidos e os simulados que apresentam boa concord?ncia com as medi??es efetuadas. Estes resultados consistem principalmente na identifica??o dos modos de resson?ncia e na determina??o das caracter?sticas do dispositivo projetado, como freq??ncia de resson?ncia, perda de retorno e diagrama de radia??o

Electrical machines in electrified heavy-duty vehicles are subjected to dynamic temperature loadings during normal operation due to the different driving conditions. The Electrical Insulation System (EIS) in a stator winding is aged as an effect of these dynamic thermal loads. The thermal loads are usually high constant temperatures and thermal cycling. The high average constant thermal load is well-known in the electrical machine industry but little is known about the effect of temperature cycling. In this project, the ageing of the EIS in stator windings due to temperature cycling is examined. In this project, computational simulations of different simplified models that represent the electrical insulation system are made to analyse the thermo-mechanical stresses that is induced due to thermal cycling. Furthermore, a test object was designed and simulated to replicate the stress levels obtained from the simulations. The test object is to ease the physical testing of electrical insulation system. Testing a complete stator takes time and has the disadvantage of having a high mass, therefore a test object is designed and a test method is provided. The results from the finite element analysis indicate that the mechanical stresses induced will affect the lifetime of the electrical insulation system. A sensitivity study of several thermal cycling parameters was performed, the stator core length, the cycle rate and the temperature cycle amplitude. The results obtained indicate that the stator core length is too short to have a significant effect on the thermo-mechanical stresses induced. The results of the sensitivity study of the temperature cycle rate and the temperature cycle amplitude showed that these parameters increase the thermo-mechanical stresses induced. The results from the simulations of the test object is similar to the results from the simulations of the stator windings, which means that the tests object is valid for testing. The test method that is most appropriate is the power cycling test method, because it replicates the actual application of stator windings. The thermally induced stresses exposing the slot insulation exceeds the yield strength of the material, therefore plastic deformation may occur only after one thermal cycle. The other components in the stator are exposed to stresses below the yield strength. The thermally induced stresses exposing the slot insulation are high enough to low cycle fatigue the electrical insulation system, thus thermo-mechanical fatigue is an ageing factor of the electrical insulation system.